SA Weekend restaurant review | House of George

This East End hotspot known for its wood-fired lamb rebranded a couple of months ago with a new chef and menu. So how does it stack up?

Odds and ends and artefacts line the shelves inside House of George in the East End of Adelaide

George meet Malva. Malva meet George. They might seem an unlikely couple on first appearances, these two … one a globetrotting party animal … the other sweet, cuddly and a bit of a homebody. Who would have thought that they were made for each other?

Malva is a pudding from South Africa that is laced with apricot jam and given a final drenching of caramel.

And this old-fashioned dessert born of hard times has been embraced by House of George, a restaurant with its heart otherwise devoted to the Mediterranean.

For those who missed the news, this is the new name for the East End eatery previously known as Yiasou George, and it is a rebadging that coincides with a few significant changes.

Not that these are obvious in the first impressions of a room that adjoins the Stag Hotel. The handpainted murals of Greek village life and political unrest remain in place, as do the hanging greenery and mirror balls overhead, and shelves filled with random pantry items.

The dining room at House of George in the East End of Adelaide

The interior of the dining room at House of George.

The key modification is in the kitchen that now is open to the dining space and equipped with a wood-fired grill and rotisserie, alongside the wood oven.

For recently appointed chef Sav Sexton, who made such a strong impression with comparatively limited facilities at suburban bar Good Gilbert, it’s akin to being handed the keys to a powerful new car. Working out the intricacies and harnessing its full potential will take time.

A few months in and the overall experience might be marked “good, but can still be better”. The structure of the menu, particularly in the sizing and communication of its snacks and starters, needs attention. Another larger choice would also be handy. And there is scope for the fiery breath of the hearth/oven to be more consistently impactful.

Assorted food at House of George

Take the pitas that arrive covered by a folded tea-towel. While they are beautifully light and pliable, these pale discs have none of the freckles of char you might have expected. The accompanying taramasalata, however, is terrific and taken to another level by the addition of fragments of house-smoked eel.

Smoked whiting that should be the hero of elements arranged on a single Ritz cracker doesn’t fare as well, shouted down by an unctuous whipped salt and vinegar butter, as well as the sea-spray pops of salmon roe. That single bite is at one end of the size spectrum of snacks that extends the other way to skewers of chicken thigh finished with a “glaze” of rendered fat and a crumble of crisped skin.

Brussels sprouts in hot honey at House of George

Chicken skewers at House of George

The fact that Kangaroo Island-farmed abalone falls into the starter category is more to do with its (understandable) price than its substance. The small puck of meat from three of the shellfish has been flashed on the grill, sprinkled with a saltbush/mountain pepper dust, sliced and returned to its shell with a blob of aioli. Take your time, savouring each delectable sliver, and it is money well spent, even if it won’t fill your belly.

That job falls to the “lamb porchetta”, a dubious name given an obvious clash in proteins. Pedantry aside, the rump meat is rolled around a spicy merguez sausage for its turn (and turn again) on the rotisserie, before finishing in the oven. Sliced to order, it comes with a salsa-verde-style anchovy dressing and garlicky macadamia puree. A lovely roast, indeed, though the effort that goes into cooking with wood doesn’t make a huge impression.

Not like the brussels sprouts, anyway. They come from the oven looking like they have been thrown directly on to the coals, their own characteristic bitter edge echoed by the char, and balanced beautifully by a hot honey drizzle.

Finally comes the malva, direct from the furnace in a terracotta dish, the pudding puffed to the rim, the jam bubbling around the edges, turning to a dark toffee. Simple yet stunning, tradition revisited, warm and inviting. A symbol of the new George as much as anything this night.